‘My name is Elaine.’
‘Yes, I know that honey, I gave you this name! Now get up, it’s dinner time.’
My mother’s voice startled me and violently brought me back to reality. Varjik was gone, along with the dream. I was… glad. Yes, I was glad to be back to my familiar surroundings, no glowing weird men here, no bloody forests, nothing unusual. Back to normal. A good thing.
The rest of the evening passed with me being in a dazzled state, ‘too preoccupied’ as my older brother James described it. I wasn’t preoccupied, I was just a little confused. The weight of my body felt a bit different, lighter, like in the dream.
‘Okay earthlings, that’s all from big J, see you tomorrow’, my brother announced after we were done with dinner. He was looking at his phone, probably texting one of his friends.
‘Can I come with you?’
There was a loud silence in the table suddenly and everybody was looking at me googly eyed and with their mouths open. My father’s mouth had still some chicken and rice inside it. Ew.
‘What?’, I asked them, embarrassed. ‘I just feel like going out. I am not sleepy, so why not?’
‘Oh, so now you want to hang out with the… what did you call my group the last time? Nerdy birdy?’
‘Oh come on big J. that was a joke. You know I like your friends.’
‘No? No, I don’t.’
‘Well, I do. Can I come? Mum, dad? It’s Friday.’
They agreed of course, happy that I would be out with my brother, finally. With him, you couldn’t not be in a safe place, his and his friends' activities were either board games or science stuff or just endless hours of video games. As we were walking towards Sam’s, his friend’s house, we both kept quiet, unsure of how to start a conversation that did not involve teasing or fighting over silly things.
My mind kept going back to the dream, and I knew that going out with James was a way for me not to fall asleep straight after dinner. I needed to figure out why this dream had made me so upset and why it felt so different from the other ones. One reason, I guessed, was that I saw everything in the dream as I see them in my awake life, which is from my own point of view. Usually, in dreams, I can see myself walking and talking, or I just dream about other people. Maybe that’s why it felt real? We reached Sam’s house and I pressed pause in my thoughts.
Sam’s mouth dropped even more open than my brother’s when he saw me at the doorstep.
‘What’s going on?’
‘Little sister wanted to be with the nerdy birdy gang. Is that cool?’
Of course it was cool. I knew Sam had a crush on me for the longest time, and even if my brother hadn’t made fun of the fact endlessly, I would have guessed it myself; he turns a bright red color every time I am in even remotely close to him. The other guys were sitting around a big table that was full of tiny miniatures of men and beasts and some kind of a map. Getting ready for a board game marathon most probably. I was never into that, all these magical creatures and superpowers… It’s dumb.
‘Hey, can I get a beer?’
‘You are full of surprises today little E.’, James said while passing me one of the cans. ‘Don’t you dare tell mum about this.’
‘It’s just a beer, James. I am seventeen, not eight. Relax. And don’t call me little E.’
I snuggled in a big armchair near the fireplace and watched them play for a bit. Then I focused on the fire. The flames were dancing happily, the cracking noises filled my heart with warmth and relaxation. It was all good. I was safe…
…And then everything turned black.
‘Varjik?’
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